Couples and Companies: Negotiating Fathers’ Participation in Parental Leave in Germany
Keywords:
Parental leave, fathers, childcare, gender, GermanyAbstract
This article reports on findings of a study of fathers on parental leave in Germany. Drawing on interviews with couples (n=16) and human resource managers in different companies (n=8), we analyze how fathers’ parental leave is negotiated between couples and how employers deal with male employees who claim parental leave. We ask for conducive and obstructive factors to paternity leave. We analyze expected and actual workplace problems, parenting models, gender beliefs, and power relations among the couple as factors in the question of paternity leave. In most organizations, two months have become an organizational routine, , but two months also marks the threshold at which these organizations assume being able to manage paternal leave. Among the couple, an extension of paternity leave must be established against an asymmetric cultural tradition of parenthood, which is, despite of a dominant rhetoric of gender equality, still deeply embodied within the everyday routines of most couples.
References
Allen, S. M., Hawkins, A. J. (1999). Maternal gate- keeping. Mothers’ beliefs and behaviors that inhibit greater father involvement in family work. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 61 (1), 199-212.
Behnke, C., Meuser M. (2012). “Look here mate! I’m taking parental leave for a year” - Involved fatherhood and images of masculinity. In M. Oechsle, U. Müller, S. Hess (Eds.), Fatherhood in Late Modernity (pp. 129-146). Opladen, Ger- many: Budrich.
Behnke, C., Meuser, M. (2013). “Aktive Vaterschaft”. Geschlechterkonflikte und Männlichkeitsbilder in biographischen Paarinterviews. In: P. Loos (Ed), Dokumentarische Methode. Grundlagen, Entwicklungen, Anwendungen (pp. 75-91). Op- laden, Germany: Budrich.
Björnberg, U. (2002) Ideology and choice between work and care: Swedish family policy for work- ing parents‘. Critical Social Policy, 22 (1), 33-52.
Bjørnholt, M., Farstad, G. R. (2014). “Am I rambling? “On the Advantages of Interviewing Couples To- gether. Qualitative Research 14, 3-19.
BMFSFJ (2016). Väterreport 2016. Berlin: BMFSFJ.
Bohnsack, R. (2010). Documentary method and group discussions. In R. Bohnsack, N. Pfaff, W. Weller (eds.), Qualitative analysis and documentary method in international educational research (pp. 99.124). Opladen, Germany: Budrich.
Bohnsack, R. (2014). Documentary method. In U. Flick (ed.), The Sage Handbook of analyzing qualitative data (pp. 217-233). Los Angeles [a.o.]: Sage.
Born, C., & Krüger, H. (2002). Vaterschaft und Väter im Kontext sozialen Wandels. Über die Notwendigkeit der Differenzierung zwischen strukturellen Gegebenheiten und kulturellen Wünschen. In H. Walter (Ed): Männer als Väter. Sozialwissenschaftliche Theorie und Empirie (pp. 107-143). Gieben, Germany: Psychosozial. Bourdieu, P. (1990). La domination masculine. Actes de la recherché en sciences sociales, (3), 2-31.
Bünning, M. (2015). What happens after the ‚daddy months’? Fathers’ involvement in paid work, childcare and housework after taking parental leave in Germany. European Sociological Re- view, 31 (6), 738-748.
Burkart, G. (2007). Das modernisierte Patriarchat. Neue Väter und alte Probleme. WestEnd. Neue Zeitschrift für Sozialforschung, 4 (1), 82-91.
Connell, R.W. (1987). Gender and power. Society, the person and sexual politics. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Polity.
Dermott, E. (2008). Intimate fatherhood. A socio- logical analysis. London/New York: Routledge.
Doucet, A. (2017). The Ethics of Care and the Radical Potential of Fathers ‘Home Alone on Leave’: Care as Practice, Relational Ontology, and Social Justice. In M. O’Brien, K. Wall (eds.), Comparative Perspectives on Work-Life Balance and and Gender Equality. Fathers on Leave Alone, (pp. 11-28) Springer Open. Retrieved from http:// www.springer.com/de/book/9783319429687
Duvander, A.-Z., Haas, L., Hwang, C. P. (2015). Sweden. In P. Moss (Ed.), 11th International review of leave policies and related research 2015. London, United Kingdom: University of London, 311-320.Retrievedfrom http://www. leavenetwork.org/fileadmin/Leavenetwork/Annual_reviews/2015_full_review3 final_8july. pdf (20.11.2016)
Ehnis, P. (2009). Väter und Erziehungszeiten: Politische, kulturelle und subjektive Bedingungen für mehr Engagement in der Familie. Salzbach/ Taunus, Germany: Helmer.
Fox, E., Pascall, G., Warren, T. (2009). Work-family policies, participation, and practices: Fathers and childcare in Europe. Community, Work & Family, 12 (3), 313-326.
Gaunt, R. (2008). Maternal gatekeeping. Antecedents and consequences. Journal of Family Is- sues, 29 (3), 373-395.
Haas, L., Hwang, P. C. (2009). Is Fatherhood becoming more visible at work? Trends in corporate support for fathers taking parental leave in Sweden. Fathering, 7 (3), 303-321.
Haas, L., Hwang, P. C. (2008). The impact of taking parental leave on fathers’ participation in childcare and relationships with children: Les- sons from Sweden. Community, Work & Family, 11 (1), 85-104.
Haas, L., Rostgaard, T. (2011). Fathers’ rights to paid parental leave in the Nordic countries: Conse- quences for the gendered division of leave. Com- munity, Work & Family, 14 (2), 177-195.
Henwood, K., Procter, J. (2003). The ‘good father’: Reading men’s accounts of paternal involve- ment during the transition to first-time fatherhood. British Journal Of Social Psychology, 42 (3), 337-355.
Hirschauer, S., Hoffmann, A., Stange, A. (2015). Paarinterviews als teilnehmende Beobachtung. Präsente Abwesende und zuschauende DarstellerInnen im Forschungsgespräch. Forum Quali- tative Sozialforschung (FQS) 16, 3, http://www. qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/article/ view/2357/3887 (20.5.2016)
Johansson, T. (2011). The construction of the new father. How middle-class men become present fathers. International Review of Modern Sociology, 37 (1), 111-126.
Lammi-Taskula, J. (2008). Doing fatherhood: Understanding the gendered use of parental leave in Finland. Fathering, 6 (2), 133-148.
Lengersdorf, D., Meuser, M. (2016). Involved fa- therhood. Source of new gender conflicts? In
I. Crespi, E. Ruspini (eds.), Balancing work and family in a changing society: The father’s perspective, (pp. 149-161) New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Li, X., Zerle-Elsäßer, C., Einleitner-Phleps, C., Schi- er, M. (2015). Väter 2015: Wie aktiv sind sie, wie
geht es ihnen und was brauchen sie? München, Germany: Deutsches Jugendinstitut.
Lupton, D., Barclay, L. (1997). Constructing father- hood. Discourses and experiences, London, United Kingdom: Sage.
Mannheim, K. (1952): On the Interpretation of Weltanschauung. In: Essays on the Sociology of Knowledge, (pp. 33-83) London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
McKay, L., Doucet, A. (2010). “Without taking away her leave”: A Canadian case study of couples’ decisions on fathers’ use of paid parental leave. Fathering, 8 (3), 300-320.
Meil, G. (2013). European men’s use of parental leave and their involvement in child care and housework. Journal of Comparative Family Studies, 44 (5), 557-570.
Merla, L. (2008). Determinants, costs, and meanings of Belgian stay-at-home fathers. An international comparison. Fathering, 6 (2),132.
Meuser, M., Nagel, U. (2009). The expert interview and changes in knowledge production. In A. Bogner, B. Littig, W. Menz (eds.), Interviewing Experts (pp. 17-42). Houndmills/Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Neumann, B., Meuser, M. (2017). Changing father- hood? Significance of parental leave in work organizations and couples’. In B. Liebig, M. Oechsle (Eds.), Fathers in work organizations. Inequalities and capabilities, rationalities and politics (pp. 83-102). Opladen, Berlin and Toronto, Germany: Barbara Budrich Publishers.
O’Brien, M., Wall, K. (eds.) (2017a). Comparative Perspectives on Work-Life Balance and and Gender Equality. Fathers on Leave Alone. Springer Open. Retrieved from http://www. springer.com/de/book/9783319429687
O’Brien, M., Wall, K. (2017b). Fathers on Leave Alone: Setting the Scene. In M. O’Brien, K. Wall (Eds.), Comparative Perspectives on Work-Life Balance and and Gender Equality. Fathers on Leave Alone, (pp. 1-10) Springer Open. Retrieved from http://www.springer.com/de/ book/9783319429687
OECD (2014). OECD Family Database. LMF2.5: Time use for work, care and other day-to-day activities.
Retrieved from http://www.oecd.org/social/family/ LMF2_5_Time_use_of_work_and_care.pdf
Peukert, A. (2015). Aushandlungen von Paaren zur Elternzeit. Arbeitsteilung unter neuen Vorzeichen? Wiesbaden, Germany: Springer VS. Pfahl, S., Reuyß, S. (2009). Das neue Elterngeld - Erfahrungen und betriebliche Nutzungsbedingungen von Vätern. Hans-Böckler-Stiftung (Eds.), Gender, Familie und Beruf, Bd. 239.
Düsseldorf, Germany
Possinger, J. (2013). Vaterschaft im Spannungsfeld von Erwerbs- und Familienleben. „Neuen“ Vätern auf der Spur. Wiesbaden, Germany: Springer VS.
Richter, R. (2012) Väter in Elternzeit - Umsetzungen und Strategien zwischen Familie und Beruf. (Doctoral thesis, University of Paderborn, Ger- many). Retrieved from http://digital.ub.uni- paderborn.de/hs/id/451072 (24.11.16)
Schmidt, E., Rieder, I., Zartler, U., Schadler, C., Richter, R. (2015). Parental constructions of masculinity at the transition to parenthood: the division of parental leave among Austrian cou- ples. International Review of Sociology, 25 (3), 373-386.
Thomas, J., Hildingsson, I. (2009). Who’s bathing the baby? The division of domestic labour in Sweden. Journal of Family Studies, 15 (2), 139-152.
Tölke, A. Hank, K. (2005). Männer - Das „vernachlässigte“ Geschlecht in der Familienforschung. Zeitschrift für Familienforschung, 4, Wies- baden: VS Verlag.
Trappe, H. (2013). Väterzeit - das Elterngeld als Beschleuniger von Gleichstellung? Zeitschrift für Familienforschung, 25 (2), 238-264.
Valarino, I. (2017). Fathers on Leave Alone in Switzerland: Agents of Social Change? In M. O’Brien,
K. Wall (Eds.), Comparative Perspectives on Work-Life Balance and and Gender Equality. Fathers on Leave Alone, (pp. 205-230) Springer Open. Retrieved from http://www.springer.com/ de/book/9783319429687
Vogt, A-C. (2010). Warum Väter ihre Erwerbstätig- keit (nicht) unterbrechen. Ökonomische versus sozialpsychologische Determinanten der Inanspruchnahme von Elternzeit durch Väter. München und Mering, Germany: Hampp.
Wall, K. (2014). Fathers on Leave Alone: Does It Make a Difference to Their Lives? Fathering, 12 (2), 196-210.
Wimbauer, C., Motakef, M. (2017). Das Paarinter- view. Methodologie - Methode Methodenpraxis. Wiesbaden, Germany: Springer VS.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
• The transfer of the copyright of the article to Revista Española de Sociología.
• The assignment to the Revista Española de Sociología of the rights of commercial exploitation of the article to third parties both in the offset and digital formats, as well as to the search engines and platforms that may serve as intermediaries for the sale or knowledge of the article.
